Friday, January 23, 2009

Anotherthyme a review

Friday night is a big date night here in the triangle. My girlfriend and I decided to join the crowds and head out to a well recommended establishment, Anotherthyme. Cute play on words, I know, especially after I read more about its predecessor, Somethyme on their website. The recommendation I got was, "... great food, you will probably get terrible service, but great food."I neglected to tell Lauren about the bad service part. Off we went. The drive wasn't too bad, and Durham is either up and coming, or up and came and now blooming. The amount of money that went into the historical downtown district was worth it. Nice restaurants, restored Tobacco Warehouses complement the new buildings like the Durham Performing Arts Center. Get out to see a show if you haven't yet. That's for Anotherthyme. On to the restaurant.

We showed up 5 minutes before our reservation at 7pm and were promptly greeted and seated. Anotherthyme has a normal menu along with a specials of the week menu, which gives it some spice, if you are interested in never eating the same plate twice.

We started off with a plate of "Crispy Calamari ~ with Fire-Roasted Tomato Salsa & Cilantro Aioli" ($7.50)The tiny Calamari, about the size of jawbreakers, were perfectly cooked, lightly breaded, and the sauces provided two great flavors. I only wish there were more sauce served with it. It was some of the best Calamari I have had. A

On the the entrees. Forgive the pictures, it was low-light with little more than candlelight, and Lauren strongly discourages the flash at restaurants. Lauren had the market price ($23.95) Seared Pumpkin Crusted Yellow Fin Tuna. The tuna came cooked medium, and was divine. Served on a bed of greens, Yicama, and naval orange sections, it was quite the combination of flavors. I'm not one for Yicama, but thoroughly enjoyed the Tuna with the Citrus. Lauren enjoyed it all and even brought home half.

That was probably in part due to the fresh bread that was warmed and served with a pad of butter. We went through 8 pieces (2 baskets) of this complimentary delight.

My plate was disappointing. I ordered the Indonesian Curried Vegetables. ($16.95) It tasted like a bunch of nicely cooked vegetables thrown onto a plate with a tiny bit of great tasting chicken, and a tablespoon of a rich curry sauce on top. The cashews were huge and didn't feel like they belonged. Nothing really gelled with the dish. The rice was mostly overcooked. And I was really expecting more curry sauce. It lacked in the full flavor I have come to expect for dishes with curry in the title. I was just glad the rest of the plates were great.

We also ordered a cute half-bottle of Collovray & Terrier St. Veran, Burgundy, France '05 ($18). I'm not a wine expert but enjoyed it, as did Lauren.The service left a little to be desired. Although, I must say it got better as the evening wore on. As soon as the waitress saw how fast the water disappeared the first time, she kept up, while still giving us space.

Other than the Curried Vegetables, I would recommend this restaurant as a great place for date night in Durham. We are both looking forward to trying the other places in town.

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